Plans, Part Eight X Council of Elders X The Eve

Inside a garbage mountain in District Nine.

Qi Zhou rushed back here with A-Wu as if fleeing for his life. He set A-Wu on the ground and collapsed beside him, drained of strength.

The pervert's voice and manner of speaking had left such a powerful lingering effect that half his body was still numb-even as it hurt like hell.

He was still shaken.

Where had that terrifyingly powerful pervert come from? Why was he looking for him, and what did he want-

"Phantom Troupe," "Spider," "number eight"...

He knew the band of thieves Chrollo led was called the Phantom Troupe, and that "number eight" was a member's number, but what was "Spider"? Why did that pervert have to find him if he wanted to join the Phantom Troupe?

What he understood least was that, if the pervert had wanted to kill him, it would have been easy. So why had he let him and A-Wu leave?

Qi Zhou turned his head. A-Wu was still unconscious.

He slowly let out a breath-but none of that mattered anymore. What mattered was that they had made it back alive.

He crawled over to A-Wu and lifted his shirt to check him for injuries. A-Wu had bruises on the back of his neck and his lower abdomen, and the pervert had dislocated both his arms.

Fortunately, there were no open wounds. If they got infected, there would be no way to treat them in a place like Meteor City, and that would have been trouble.

Qi Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and took hold of A-Wu's left arm and shoulder. Using Nen to enhance his senses, he located the bones and meridians, then put A-Wu's arm back in place with a crack.

Then A-Wu, who had opened his eyes at some point, startled him.

A-Wu stared at him expressionlessly. Though he couldn't move, the killing power of his gaze alone was enough to kill Qi Zhou ten thousand times over.

Qi Zhou's hand shook as he reset A-Wu's right arm, and he nearly set it wrong.

"Idiot! Didn't I tell you not to come? Are you fucking stupid? How the hell have you survived this long?"

Seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was already at Qi Zhou's mercy, A-Wu kept firing off words like a machine gun. "It was such an obvious trap, such obvious bait, and you still jumped in without a second thought! All you did was get yourself caught too. You didn't help at-"

Before A-Wu could finish, Qi Zhou raised his hands and covered his ears. "Stop yelling, stop yelling. I know I was wrong, and I'd do it again next time."

A-Wu's serious face flushed red with anger. "You-"

"Don't think too much about it." Qi Zhou smiled. "Aren't we both still alive?"

A-Wu: "..."

He fell silent for a long moment, then murmured, "If there's a next time, I'd rather you didn't come save me."

"No can do." Qi Zhou shrugged. "I can't just leave a friend to fend for himself."

A-Wu choked on his words and rolled his eyes. "Idiot, you're making friends in Meteor City?"

"Huh?" Qi Zhou blinked.

He lay down on A-Wu's other side and gazed at the starry sky through a hole in the roof of their garbage nest. "By the way, do you know who that person was?"

"Don't change the subject-!"

A-Wu spoke irritably, but answered Qi Zhou's question anyway.

"I don't know. I was checking the things I'd gotten lately when that guy... suddenly barged in. He stared at me for a while, asked if I was the one who killed Suoerzite, and then asked if I was a Spider."

Qi Zhou frowned. "So what exactly is a 'Spider'?"

A-Wu silently turned his head to look at Qi Zhou lying beside him. After a long while, he said softly, "You don't know?"

Qi Zhou looked innocent. "I really don't."

"...The A-rank band of thieves called the Phantom Troupe. Every member has a twelve-legged spider tattoo with a number on it," A-Wu explained. "So people outside like to refer to them as 'Spiders.'"

Qi Zhou nodded in understanding.

Something occurred to him, and his eyes lit up. Suddenly excited, he said, "They're a band of thieves, and they're even classified as A-rank. They must have done too many bad things to count-hasn't anyone arrested them? Once I get out, I'll call the police!"

A-Wu rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky. He no longer had the energy to comment on Qi Zhou's lame jokes.

He watched Qi Zhou and slowly asked, a complicated look on his face, "...You have ties to the Phantom Troupe, don't you?"

The excitement vanished from Qi Zhou's eyes, and his expression grew complicated too. After a moment, he nodded slowly. "I don't want to admit it, but I do have some ties to them."

"I don't know why that person tonight had to find you, but..."

A-Wu said seriously, "But no matter what, you mustn't let anyone find out that you have ties to the Phantom Troupe."

"Every member of the Phantom Troupe is wanted under an A-rank warrant. Who knows how many people are eager to kill them? Those people can't touch them, but they can pick on a soft persimmon like you."

Qi Zhou's face darkened at once at being described as a "soft persimmon."

"...There's one more thing."

A-Wu continued, "I looked into it. That day, you said the vice president would continue doing business with the Bancro Family. That was just a pretext the vice president used to keep everyone calm."

"The truth is, after the East District elder obtained the Stock Solution, he gave it to Suoerzite to modify. The portion Suoerzite got was his payment from the elder."

Qi Zhou frowned. "You mean, even though I already know the family that produces the Stock Solution is called Bancro, if I want to infiltrate them, I still have to start with the elder?"

"You'd be more likely to earn their trust as a 'weapon' the elder supplied to the gang. It would be a little easier than finding your own way in."

A-Wu nodded slightly, disgust showing in his eyes.

"But my advice is just for reference, because the East District elder is a truly disgusting man."

Qi Zhou smiled. "That can't be helped. Eight or nine things out of ten in life don't go your way, and the remaining one or two go even worse."

A-Wu: "..."

He had lost count of how many times he'd rolled his eyes tonight.

"At the council of elders being held in the central area three days from now, the former vice president can bring two people with him to attend alongside the West District elder."

A-Wu began to explain his thoughts. "The former vice president is president now, and Wennide is vice president. Those two will definitely go, so there's only one spot left."

"If things go as I've planned, I'll look for my brother after the four elders' gathering is over. If nothing goes wrong, once I've succeeded, I'll take a group of White Eagle Society members straight to the West District and use them to stand against my brother's remaining followers."

A-Wu's expression grew grave. "But... if I fail, everyone connected to me will be in trouble."

"So I don't recommend getting involved in this meeting. If possible, I'd even like you to wait until my affairs are settled before seeking an introduction through Qiexier Tabo to get into Spicy Fragrance Mountain."

"That won't do. I've helped you so much already. You should at least let me come along to the end and see how it turns out," Qi Zhou said with a smile.

A-Wu shot him a sideways glance. "If I fail, we'll die."

Qi Zhou was unconcerned. "Oh, come on." He paused and gazed at A-Wu, his eyes full of trust. "If you weren't completely confident, you wouldn't act rashly. So you-no, I should say we definitely won't fail."

"Besides, instead of seeking an introduction through Chelsea Taber, why shouldn't I go through you?" Qi Zhou looked at A-Wu and smiled. "If you succeed, you'll be qualified to do business with the gangs outside too, won't you?"

A-Wu fell silent, a hint of complicated emotion entering his eyes. He muttered "idiot," but said nothing more to stop him.

Seeing this, Qi Zhou smiled. "Then here's to our success."